Extensions and Themes

The more I use Firefox, the more I love it. Up until recently, I even used it naked. Not me. I wasn't naked. The browser was. And I still liked it more than IE! The only Firefox-specific feature I was using was its tabbed browsing capability.* Now, however, I learned that the extensions and themes made for Firefox are not just your run-of-the-mill addons. No, these addons dramatically increase the functionality of the browser, and they do so without weighing the browser down or make browsing an unwieldy undertaking.

I now give you my favorite Firefox extensions in order:

1. Adblock - Nothing brings you back to the internet of 1998 like blocking all the Goddamn Shockwave, GIF, Flash and assorted banner ads that are peppered throughout your favorite websites. Now before you get all militant on me and tell me that the sites I visit depend on ads for revenue, let me ask you this. When was the last time you clicked on an ad? Hmm? Well I can tell you when it was that I last clicked on an ad. Ready? Never. That's when. I don't fucking click on those ads. They're not relevant 90% of the time and a distraction from the article I'm reading the rest of the time and I hate them. But now they're blocked. The best part of Adblock is that you have the option of either blocking the ad image, or even blocking the iframe through which any number of ads are served. Bliss.


2. Forecastfox - Now you never need to visit the pop-up filled, slow-loading, buggy Weather.com or any other weather website to see if you need to bring that sweatshirt with you to work.


3. NoScript - Although somewhat infuriating at first, this extension is well worth it if you visit a lot of unfamiliar (read: porn-y, pirate-y, or otherwise elicit) websites that may use Javascript to install malicious software on your machine. NoScript disables Javascript by default but gives you the option to permit Javascript on a site-by-site basis. Lots of initial investment for additional protection.


4. googlebar - Mimics the Google Toolbar for IE. By default, Firefox comes with a search box on the toolbar that uses Google, but doesn't have any of the other Google Toolbar features. Since Google hasn't yet created a Firefox-compatible toolbar (Didn't they hire the two primary Firefox engineers? What are they doing?) you'll need to install this open source extension to bring back your highlighting goodness.


5. ieview - Despite its wide acceptance rate and demanding nature with regards to W3C standards adherence, some pages just don't render properly in Firefox. For sites like those *cough*, ieview is your friend. It simply opens the webpage in a new IE browser window.
   

If y'all actually care about any of this (and even if you don't), I just may share some additional Firefox tips with you next time.

Oh! And to prove to you that my browser doesn't look all cluttered with these extensions installed (I hate clutter), check this out:




See that? That's an uncluttered, full-featured muthafuckin' browser right there!

*I now firmly believe that every piece of software should support tabs. There's no Goddamn good reason why they shouldn't.